Akmola tragedy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bridge — Yesil (Russian: Исиль) was located in Akmola, Kazakh SSR, also known as Bridge of Mystery, which collapsed in 1959.
Chronology of events
On 1 August (13 June) 1959, young people from across the entire region arrived in Akmola to take part in festive events. A regional youth festival was being held. On the second day of the festival — 2 August (14 June), at 13:46 local time (UTC+5), the bridge over the Yesil River was unable to withstand the load and collapsed. The only police officer present that day together with his spouse, Nurmukhambet Kozhakhmetov, began rescuing people who were drowning.[3] Because the incident occurred during festive events, people did not immediately realize how the bridge in front of them had collapsed.
Since reaching the left bank of Akmola was practically impossible, ambulances and emergency services arrived only from the right bank.
«…The regional youth festival was taking place. Nurmukhambet and Sofia were in the festival camp and walking in the park. While returning home, a tragic event occurred on the bridge over the Yesil River: due to the large crowd, part of the bridge collapsed. Amid the chaos and noise, it was impossible to understand what was happening. People were falling into the water. Sofia also fell. Her bright, light-colored dress flashed into view for a moment…»
— A. Shaul, Y. Kuznetsov, Blue overcoat, page 22
Classification
The Soviet government decided that such a disaster occurring during major celebrations was inappropriate for public coverage. All information about the tragedy was classified.[2]